Creating Business Intelligence Solutions of Analytical Data Models, Reports, and Dashboards
Copyright © 2017 Packt Publishing
Contents
Preface
What this book covers
What you need for this book
Who this book is for
Conventions
Reader feedback
Customer support
Downloading the example code
Downloading the color images of this book
Errata
Piracy
Questions
Introduction
Configuring Power BI Desktop options and settings
Getting ready
How to do it...
Installing and running Power BI Desktop
Configuring Power BI Desktop options
How it works...
There's more...
See also
Power BI's advantages over Excel
Power BI Security and Data Source Privacy
Installing the On-Premises Data Gateway
Getting ready
Hardware and network configuration
How to do it...
Installation of on-premises gateway
How it works...
Gateway recovery key
There's more...
See also...
Installing Power BI Publisher for Excel
How to do it...
Installation of Power BI Publisher for Excel
There's more...
Installing and Configuring DAX Studio
How to do it...
Installation of DAX Studio
Configuration of DAX Studio
How it works...
There's more...
Guy in a Cube video channel
Introduction
Viewing and analyzing M functions
Getting ready
How to do it...
Formula Bar
Advanced Editor window
How it works...
Query folding
M query structure
Lazy evaluation
There's more...
Partial query folding
Limitations of query folding
See also...
M language references
Establishing and managing connections to data sources
Getting ready
How to do it...
Isolate data sources from individual queries
Query groups
Manage source credentials and privacy levels
How it works...
Data Source settings
Data source privacy settings
There's more...
See also
Building source queries for DirectQuery models
Getting ready
How to do it...
Applying M transformations with DirectQuery models
How it works...
There's more...
DirectQuery project candidates
DirectQuery performance
See also
Importing data to Power BI Desktop models
How to do it...
Denormalize a dimension
Provide automatic sorting
How it works...
There's more...
One GB dataset limit and Power BI Premium
See also
Applying multiple filtering conditions
Getting ready
How to do it...
Query filter example steps
How it works...
There's more...
Filtering via the Query Editor interface
See also
Choosing columns and column names
How to do it...
Identify expensive columns
Select columns
Rename columns
How it works...
Column memory usage
There's more...
Fact table column eliminations
Column orders
See also
Transforming and cleansing source data
Getting ready
How to do it...
Remove duplicates
Update a column through a join
There's more...
See also
Creating custom and conditional columns
How to do it...
Create a dynamic banding attribute
Create a formatted name column
Comparing the current and previous rows
How it works...
Conditional expression syntax
Case sensitivity
Conditional expression evaluation
Query folding of custom columns
There's more...
Add column from example
Conditional columns interface
DAX calculated columns
Error handling and comments
Integrating multiple queries
Getting ready
How to do it...
Consolidate files
Self-joining querying
How it works...
Nested join versus flat join
Append multiple files
There's more...
Combine binaries
Staging queries versus inline queries
See also
Choosing column data types
How to do it...
Remove automatic type detection steps
Align relationship column data types
Add numeric columns from text columns
Use fixed decimal number for precision
How it works...
Automatic data type detection
Numeric data types
Power BI Desktop automatic time intelligence
There's more...
Data type impacts
Date with locale
Percentage data type
See also
Visualizing the M library
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
Introduction
Designing a multi fact data model
Getting ready
Setting business expectations
How to do it...
Four-step dimensional design process
Data warehouse and implementation bus matrix
Choose the dataset storage mode - Import or DirectQuery
In-Memory mode
DirectQuery mode
How it works...
DAX formula and storage engine
There's more...
Project ingestion questions
Power BI delivery approaches
See also
Implementing a multi fact data model
How to do it...
SQL view layer
M queries in Power BI Desktop
Create model relationships
Author DAX measures
Configure model metadata
There's more...
Shared views
Handling one-to-many and many-to-many relationships
Getting ready
How to do it...
Single, bidirectional, and CROSSFILTER()
Single direction relationships
Bidirectional relationship
CROSSFILTER() Measure
Many-to-many relationships
Bidirectional cross-filtering for many-to-many
How it works...
Ambiguous relationships
CROSSFILTER()
There's more...
DirectQuery supported
See also
Assigning data formatting and categories
How to do it...
Data formats
Data category
How it works...
There's more...
Model level settings
See also
Configuring Default Summarization and sorting
How to do it...
Sort By Column
DAX Year-Month sorting
DAX Ranking Sort
Default Summarization
How it works...
Default Summarization
There's more...
Quick measures
See also
Setting the visibility of columns and tables
How to do it...
Isolate measures from tables
How it works...
Measure home tables
There's more...
Hiding hierarchy columns
Group visibility
Row level security visibility
Visibility features from SSAS
Embedding business definitions into DAX measures
Getting ready
How to do it...
Sales and cost metrics
Margin and count metrics
Secondary relationships
How it works...
Date relationships
There's more...
Measure definitions
Measure names and additional measures
See also
Enriching a model with analysis expressions
How to do it...
Pricing analysis
Geometric mean at all grains
How it works...
Pricing analysis
Building analytics into data models with DAX
How to do it...
Cross-selling opportunities
Accessories but not bike customers
Bike only customers
Active verus inactive customers
Actual versus budget model and measures
How it works...
Filter Context Functions
There's more...
SUMMARIZECOLUMNS()
Integrating math and statistical analysis via DAX
How to do it...
Correlation coefficient
Goodness-of-Fit test statistic
How it works...
Correlation coefficient syntax
Goodness-of-Fit logic and syntax
Supporting virtual table relationships
How to do it...
Segmentation example
Summary to detail example
Actual versus plan
How it works...
Year and month selected
Virtual relationship functions
There's more...
Multiple dimensions
Alternatives to virtual relationships
See also
Creating browsable model hierarchies and groups
How to do it...
Create hierarchy columns with DAX
Implement a hierarchy
Create and manage a group
How it works...
DAX parent and child functions
Include other grouping option
Model scoped features
There's more...
DAX calculated columns as rare exceptions
Natural hierarchies versus unnatural hierarchies
Grouping dates and numbers
DirectQuery models supported
See also
Introduction
Building rich and intuitive Power BI reports
Getting ready
Stakeholder Matrix
How to do it...
Report planning and design process
Report Design Example
European Sales and Margin Report Page
European country sales and margin report page
How it works...
European sales report design
There's more...
Power BI report design checklist
Custom visuals
Published Power BI datasets as data sources
See also
Creating table and matrix visuals
How to do it...
Table visual exceptions
Identifying blanks in tables
Matrix visual hierarchies
How it works...
Matrix visual navigation
There's more...
URL and mail to email support
Percent of total formatting
Measures on matrix rows
Data bar conditional formatting
Utilizing graphical visualization types
Getting ready
Choosing visual types
How to do it...
Waterfall chart for variance analysis
Line chart with conditional formatting
Shape map visualization
How it works...
Shape map
Enhancing exploration of reports
Getting ready
Drillthrough report page requirements
Enable Cortana integration and Q&A
How to do it...
Create featured Q&A questions
Parameterized Q&A report
Cortana integration
Drillthrough Report Pages
Report themes
How it works...
Report theme JSON files
There's more...
Conversational BI - mobile support for Q&A
See also
Integrating card visualizations
Getting ready
How to do it...
KPI visual
Multi-row card
There's more...
Gauge visualizations
Controlling interactive filtering between visuals
How to do it...
Visual interaction control
How it works...
Current year Measures
Associating slicers with report pages
How to do it...
Configure dimension slicers
Horizontal slicers
Customize a date slicer
Relative date filters
How it works...
Date slicer
There's more...
Text search
Numeric range slicers
Applying filters at different scopes
How to do it...
Report and page level filters
Visual level filter - top N
How it works...
DAX queries from report, page, and visual Filters
There's more...
Advanced report and page level filters
Formatting reports for publication
How to do it...
Visual alignment and distribution
Shapes as backgrounds and groups
There's more...
Snap objects to grid and keyboard shortcuts
Textbox with email link
Format painter
See also
Designing mobile report layouts
Getting ready
Plan for mobile consumption
How to do it...
Phone layout - Europe report page
Phone layout - United Kingdom report page
How it works...
There's more...
Slicers and drill-down on mobile devices
Mobile-optimized dashboards
See also
Introduction
Building a Power BI dashboard
How to do it...
Dashboard design process
Dashboard development process
Constructing an enterprise dashboard
How to do it...
Dashboard design process
How it works...
Dual KPI custom visual
Supporting tiles
Developing dynamic dashboard metrics
How to do it...
Dynamic date columns
KPI target measures
How it works...
Target measure - trailing 6 months
Preparing datasets and reports for Q & A natural language queries
Getting ready
Determine use cases and feasibility
How to do it...
Prepare a model for Q & A
Model metadata
Model design
Apply synonyms
Analyze Q & a use cases
Apply synonyms
Publish the dataset
Embedding analytical context into visualizations
How to do it...
Design the visual
Create the visual
How it works...
Color saturation rule
Tooltip measures
There's more...
Exposing what matters - top N and percentage of total visualizations
How to do it...
Top 25 resellers with below -3% margin
Last year's top 50 products with below -10% growth
How it works...
Prior year rank measure
Visualizing performance relative to targets with KPIs and gauges
How to do it...
Create the visuals
Grouping KPIs
Publish KPIs to dashboard
How it works...
Current month filter
Time intelligence measures
Leveraging Power BI reports in Power BI dashboards
How to do it...
Define live page requirements
Create and publish to the dashboard
Refine dashboard layout
How it works...
Live page slicers
Deploying content from Excel and SSRS to Power BI
Getting ready
How to do it...
Publish and pin excel objects
Pin SSRS report items
Adding data alerts and email notifications to dashboards
How to do it...
Configure data alert
Automate email notification
How it works...
Introduction
Building a complete date dimension table
Getting ready
How to do it...
Date dimension design
Required date dimension columns
Date dimension planning and design
Add date intelligence columns via SQL
How it works...
Date intelligence columns
Loading the date dimension
There's more...
Role playing date dimensions
Surrogate key date conversion
Prepping the date dimension via the Query Editor
How to do it...
Date dimension M Query
Add the date intelligence column via join
How it works...
Date dimension M query
DirectQuery support
Authoring date intelligence metrics across granularities
Getting ready
How to do it...
Current time period measures
Prior time period measures
Dynamic prior period measure
How it works...
Current and prior time period measures
Developing advanced date intelligence metrics
How to do it...
Count of days without sales
Dynamic Prior Year-to-Date
How it works...
Dynamic prior period intelligence
Simplifying date intelligence with DAX queries and calculated tables
How to do it...
Role playing date dimensions via calculated tables
Date table logic query
How it works...
Date table logic query
Adding a metric placeholder dimension
How to do it...
Metric placeholder dimension query
Measure group table
Introduction
Creating dynamic and portable Power BI reports
Getting ready
How to do it...
Single and multiple URL parameters
Dynamic embedded URLs
There's more...
Dashboards with custom URLs
See also
Filtering queries with parameters
Getting ready
How to do it...
Trailing days query parameter filter
Multi-parameter query filters
How it works...
Query folding of parameter value filters
There's more...
Power BI Service support
Preserving report metadata with Power BI templates
Getting ready
How to do it...
Template parameters
Export template
Converting static queries into dynamic functions
How to do it...
There's more...
Local resource usage
Parameterizing your data sources
Getting ready
How to do it...
SQL Server database
Excel filename and path
Stored procedure input parameters
Generating a list of parameter values via queries
How to do it...
Dynamic date parameter query
Product subcategories parameter query
There's more...
DirectQuery support
Capturing user selections with parameter tables
How to do it...
Sales plan growth scenarios
There's more...
Scenario specific measures
Building a forecasting process with What if analysis capabilities
Getting ready
How to do it...
Forecast variables from Excel
Power BI Desktop forecast model
Source connection and unpivoted forecast tables
Apply the forecast to historical values
Allocate the forecast according to the dimension variable inputs
Create relationships, measures, and forecast visuals
Test and deploy forecasting tool
How it works...
Introduction
Capturing the current user context of Power BI content
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
Power BI authentication
There's more...
USERNAME() versus USERPRINCIPALNAME()
See also
Defining RLS roles and filtering expressions
Getting ready
How to do it...
United States online Bike Sales Role
Europe reseller sales - mountain and touring
Deploy security roles to Power BI
How it works...
Filter transfer via relationships
There's more...
Managing security
Dynamic columns and central permissions table
Designing dynamic security models in Power BI
Getting ready
How to do it...
There's more...
Performance impact
Building dynamic security in DirectQuery data models
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
Dynamic security via relationship filter propagation
There's more...
Bidirectional security relationships
Displaying the current filter context in Power BI reports
How to do it...
Dimension values selected
Dimension values remaining
How it works...
FILTERS() and CONCATENATEX()
Avoiding manual user clicks with user-based filtering logic
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
Personal filters feature coming to Power BI apps
Introduction
Incorporating advanced analytics into Power BI reports
How to do it...
Clustered column chart
Line chart
How it works...
Analytics pane measures
There's more...
Analytics pane limitations
See also
Enriching Power BI content with custom visuals and quick insights
Getting ready
How to do it...
Bullet chart custom visual
Scoped quick insights
How it works...
There's more...
Quick insights in Power BI Desktop
Quick insights on published datasets
Creating geospatial mapping visualizations with ArcGIS maps for Power BI
Getting ready
How to do it...
Single field address
Customer clustering Map
There's more...
ArcGIS map field wells
Conditional formatting logic
See also
Configuring custom KPI and slicer visuals
Getting ready
How to do it...
Dual KPI - headcount and labor expense
Chiclet Slicer - Sales Territory Country
There's more...
Chiclet slicer custom visual
Building animation and story telling capabilities
Getting ready
How to do it...
Scatter chart with play axis
ArcGIS map timeline
Pulse chart custom visual
There's more...
Bookmarks
Play axis custom visual
Storytelling custom visuals
Embedding statistical analyses into your model
Getting ready
How to do it...
Regression table and measures
Residuals table and measures
Regression report
How it works...
Statistical formulas
DAX calculated tables
See also
Creating and managing Power BI groupings and bins
How to do it...
First purchase date grouping
Days since last purchase grouping
Detecting and analyzing clusters
Getting ready
How to do it...
Create clusters
Analyze the clusters
How it works...
RFM - recency, frequency, monetary
Clustering algorithm and limits
There's more...
R clustering custom visuals
Scatter chart-based clustering
Forecasting and visualizing future results
Getting ready
How to do it...
Monthly forecast via date hierarchy
Weekly sales forecast analysis
How it works...
Exponential smoothing
Dynamic week status column
There's more...
Forecast requirements
Using R functions and scripts to create visuals within Power BI
Getting ready
How to do it...
Base graphics histogram
ggplot2 histogram
How it works...
Automatic duplicate removal
Filter context
There's more...
See also
Introduction
Creating a centralized IT monitoring solution with Power BI
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
Wait Stats and instance configuration data source setup
There's more...
Query Store integration
DirectQuery real-time monitoring datasets
See also
Constructing a monitoring visualization and analysis layer
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
Relative date filtering
There's more...
Top 10 slowest queries via Query Store
See also
Importing and visualizing dynamic management view (DMV) data of SSAS and Power BI data mode ls
How to do it...
How it works...
Memory structures
See also
Increasing SQL Server DBA productivity with Power BI
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
Query Store
See also
Providing documentation of Power BI and SSAS data models to BI and business teams
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
Power BI documentation reports via Excel
SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) Metadata
Analyzing performance monitor counters of the Microsoft on-premises data gateway and SSAS tabular databases
Getting ready
How to do it...
SSAS tabular memory reporting
On-premises data gateway counters
How it works...
SSAS tabular memory limits
On-premises data gateway workloads
There's more...
High availability and load balancing for the on-premises data gateway
Reduce network latency via Azure ExpressRoute and Azure Analysis Services
See also
Analyzing Extended Events trace data with Power BI
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
Self-service Extended Events analysis
There's more...
SQL Server Profiler versus Extended Events
Additional event session integration
See also
Visualizing log file data from SQL Server Agent jobs and from Office 365 audit searches
Getting ready
How to do it...
Power BI Audit Log Integration
SQL Server Agent log integration
How it works...
PowerShell search for Power BI audit log
SQL Server agent tables
There's more...
Power BI usage reporting
See also
Introduction
Enhancing the scalability and usability of a data model
Getting ready
How to do it...
Identify expensive columns and quick wins
Normalize large dimensions
Sort imported fact tables
How it works...
Columnar database
Run-length encoding (RLE) compression via Order By
Segment elimination
There's more...
Minimize loaded and refreshed queries
Revising DAX measures to improve performance
Getting ready
How to do it...
Improper use of FILTER()
Optimizing OR condition measures
How it works...
DAX query engine - formula and storage
There's more...
DAX variables for performance
DAX as a query language
Pushing query processing back to source systems
Getting ready
How to do it...
Query folding analysis process
Query folding redesign
How it works...
Query folding factors
Native SQL queries
There's more...
Parallel loading of tables
Improving folded queries
Strengthening data import and integration processes
How to do it...
Data source consolidation
Error handling, comments, and variable names
Handling missing fields
How it works...
MissingField.UseNull
See also
Isolating and documenting DAX expressions
Getting ready
How to do it...
Reseller Margin % with variables
Variable table filters
How it works...
Reseller Margin % with variables
There's more...
DAX Formatter in DAX Studio
Introduction
Preparing a content creation and collaboration environment in Power BI
How to do it...
Evaluate and plan for Power BI deployment
Set up a Power BI service deployment
How it works...
Premium capacity nodes - frontend cores and backend cores
There's more...
Scaling up and scaling out with Power BI Premium
See also
Managing migration of Power BI content between development, testing, and production environments
Getting ready
How to do it...
Staged deployment overview
Development environment
Production environment
How it works...
Automated report lifecycle - clone and rebind report APIs
OneDrive for business synchronization
Version restore in OneDrive for business
See also
Sharing Power BI dashboards with colleagues
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
Managing shared dashboards
There's more...
Analyze shared content from Excel
Sharing dashboards from Power BI mobile apps
Configuring Power BI app workspaces
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
App workspaces and apps
App workspaces replace group workspaces
There's more...
Power BI premium capacity admins
See also
Configuring refresh schedules and DirectQuery connections with the on-premises data gateway
Getting ready
How to do it...
Scheduled refresh for import mode dataset
Configure data sources for the on-premises data gateway
Schedule a refresh
DirectQuery dataset
Configure data sources for the on-premises data gateway
Configure the DirectQuery dataset
How it works...
Dataset refreshes
Dashboard and report cache refreshes
There's more...
Refresh limits: Power BI premium versus shared capacity
Trigger refreshes via data refresh APIs in the Power BI Service
See also
Creating and managing Power BI apps
Getting ready
How to do it...
Publishing an app
Distributing and installing the app
How it works...
App workspaces to apps
There's more...
Apps replacing content packs
Building email subscriptions into Power BI deployments
Getting ready
Determine feasibility - recipient, distribution method, and content
How to do it...
Create dashboard and report subscriptions
Manage subscriptions
There's more...
See also
Publishing Power BI reports to the public internet
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
Publish to web report cache
There's more...
Embed in SharePoint online
See also
Enabling the mobile BI experience
How to do it...
Enhance basic mobile exploration and collaboration
Enable advanced mobile BI experiences
How it works...
Responsive visualizations
There's more...
Apple watch synchronization
SSRS 2016 on-premises via Power BI mobile apps
Filters on phone reports
See also
Introduction
Integrating Excel and SSRS objects into Power BI Solutions
Getting ready
How to do it...
SSRS
Excel
There's more...
SSRS and Excel use cases
SSRS
Microsoft Excel
Migrating a Power Pivot for Excel Data Model to Power BI
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
Excel items imported
There's more...
Export or upload to Power BI from Excel 2016
Upload Excel Workbook to Power BI
Export Excel Workbook to Power BI
Accessing and analyzing Power BI datasets from Excel
Getting ready
How to do it...
Cube formulas
DAX query to Power BI
How it works...
Cube Formulas
DAX query data connection
There's more...
Sharing and distribution limitations
New Excel visual types table requirement
Building Power BI reports into PowerPoint presentations
Getting ready
How to do it...
Prepare a report for PowerPoint
Export report to PowerPoint
How it works...
High resolution images and textboxes
There's more...
Embed Power BI tiles in MS Office
See also
Migrating a Power BI Data Model to SSAS Tabular
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
Azure analysis services pricing and performance
There's more...
Direct import to SQL server data tools
See also
Accessing MS Azure hosted services such as Azure Analysis Services from Power BI
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
Report level measures for live connections to SSAS
Client libraries for Azure Analysis Services
There's more...
Power BI premium DirectQuery and SSAS live connection query limits
See also
Using Power BI with Microsoft Flow and PowerApps
Getting ready
How to do it...
Streaming Power BI dataset via MS Flow
How it works...
Microsoft Flow
There's more...
Write capabilities and MS Flow premium
PowerApps Studio and mobile applications
See also
Preface
Microsoft Power BI is a business intelligence and analytics platform consisting of applications and services designed to provide coherent visual, and interactive insights into data.
This book will provide thorough, technical examples of using all primary Power BI tools and features as well as demonstrate high-impact end-to-end solutions that leverage and integrate these technologies and services. You'll get familiar with Power BI development tools and services; go deep into the data connectivity and transformation, modeling, visualization and analytical capabilities of Power BI; and see Power BI's functional programming languages of DAX and M come alive to deliver powerful solutions to address common, challenging scenarios in business intelligence.
This book will excite and empower you to get more out of Power BI via detailed recipes, advanced design and development tips, and guidance on enhancing existing Power BI projects.
What this book covers
Chapter 1, Configuring Power BI Development Tools, covers the installation and configuration of the primary tools and services that BI professionals utilize to design and develop Power BI content, including Power BI Desktop, the On-Premises Data Gateway, DAX Studio, and the Power BI Publisher for Excel.
Chapter 2, Accessing and Retrieving Data, dives into Power BI Desktop's Get Data experience and walks through the process of establishing and managing data source connections and queries.
Chapter 3, Building a Power BI Data Model, explores the primary processes of designing and developing robust data models.
Chapter 4, Authoring Power BI Reports, develops and describes the most fundamental report visualizations and design concepts. Additionally, guidance is provided to enhance and control the user experience when consuming and interacting with Power BI reports in the Power BI service and on mobile devices.
Chapter 5, Creating Power BI Dashboards, covers Power BI dashboards constructed to provide simple at-a-glance monitoring of critical measures and high-impact business activities.
Chapter 6, Getting Serious with Date Intelligence, contains three recipes for preparing a data model to support robust date intelligence and two recipes for authoring custom date intelligence measures.
Chapter 7, Parameterizing Power BI Solutions, covers both standard parameterization features and techniques in Power BI as well as more advanced custom implementations.
Chapter 8, Implementing Dynamic User-Based Visibility in Power BI, contains detailed examples of building and deploying dynamic, user-based security for both import and DirectQuery datasets, as well as developing dynamic filter context functionality to enhance the user experience.
Chapter 9, Applying Advanced Analytics and Custom Visuals, contains a broad mix of recipes highlighting many of the latest and most popular custom visualization and advanced analytics features of Power BI.
Chapter 10, Developing Solutions for System Monitoring and Administration, highlights the most common and impactful administration data sources, including Windows Performance Monitor, SQL Server Query Store, the Microsoft On-Premises Data Gateway, the MSDB system database, and Extended Events.
Chapter 11, Enhancing and Optimizing Existing Power BI Solutions, contains top data modeling, DAX measure, and M query patterns to enhance the performance, scalability, and reliability of Power BI datasets.
Chapter 12, Deploying and Distributing Power BI Content, contains detailed examples and considerations in deploying and distributing Power BI content via the Power BI service and Power BI mobile applications.
Chapter 13, Integrating Power BI with Other Applications, highlights new and powerful integration points between Power BI and SSAS, SSRS, Excel, PowerPoint, PowerApps, and Microsoft Flow.
What you need for this book
You will be guided through the chapters about the prerequisites. However, in order to work through the chapters, along with other components, you will primarily require the following:
- Power BI Desktop (Free download): Recommended four-core CPU and minimum 1 GB of RAM
- Windows 7-10+ or Windows Server 2008R2–2012R2
Who this book is for
This book is for BI professionals who wish to enhance their knowledge of Power BI design and development topics and to enhance the value of the Power BI solutions they deliver. Those interested in quick resolutions to common challenges and a reference guide to Power BI features and design patterns will also find this book to be a very useful resource. Some experience with Power BI will be helpful.
Introduction
Power BI is a suite of business analytics tools and services that work together to access data sources, shape, analyze and visualize data, and share insights. Although not all tools are required for all projects or deployments of Power BI, synergies are available by utilizing the unique features of multiple tools as part of integrated solutions encompassing diverse data sources and visualization types.
In this chapter, we walk through the installation and configuration of the primary tools and services BI professionals utilize to design and develop Power BI content including Power BI Desktop, the On-Premises Data Gateway, DAX Studio, and the Power BI Publisher for Excel. Additionally, as Power BI tools and services are regularly updated with new features and enhancements, resources are identified to stay up-to-date and to best take advantage of these tools for your projects.
It's assumed that the reader has access to a Power BI Pro license, rights to download and install (or allow installation) the development tools on their machine, and has the necessary access and rights to deploy and manage content in the Power BI Service and utilize the Power BI mobile applications. Power BI licensing options and assigning and managing these rights is outside the scope of this book.
Power BI Desktop is the primary tool used to develop the visual and analytical content which can then be deployed and collaborated on in the Power BI Service and optionally embedded in other applications and portals or even shared on the public internet. Although Power BI Desktop runs as a single application, it includes three tightly integrated components with their own options and settings:
- The Get Data and Query Editor experience, with its underlying M language and data mashup engine
- The SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) tabular data modeling engine and its DAX analytical language
- The interactive reporting and visualization engine formerly known as Power View
Configuring and leveraging these capabilities, in addition to advanced analytics and customization features such as R, mobile layout, and natural language queries, makes it possible to build robust and elegant BI and analytics solutions.
